Method of selecting and storing airline ticket data

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for receiving a data stream of an airline ticketing reservations computer, striping-away data bits included for the ordering and identifying and reading and writing of the data stream on magnetic media and selecting and converting the remaining data into multi-dimensional symbology or bar code for printing onto airline ticket and/or boarding documents.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/513,871 filed Oct. 22, 2003.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the processing of airline ticketsand/or boarding passes or, generally, boarding authorizations or ticketsrelated to the purchase of passage on an airliner. More particularly,the present invention relates to the use of streams of computer datacode intended for printing onto documents or for recording onto magneticmedia on documents and the selection and allocation of portions of thedata stream for representation in multi-dimensional symbology forscanable reading with or without the representation of all or some ofthe data stream in magnetically readable stored data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer reservations systems (CRS), also known as global distributionsystems (GDS) are used by travel industry employees worldwide to makeairline, hotel and car rental reservations for their clients. They alsoare used to calculate airfares and issue airline tickets. In particular,information for airline passenger reservations is entered into centralcomputer system and this information, or at least parts of theinformation, is then shared with, or available to, other airlines andticketing agencies. For the purposes of this specification these typesof computer reservation systems shall be defined as “shared computerreservation systems” (SCRS) as the data they contain is accessible toand/or shared by more than one airline.

During the creation of an airline travel document (FIGS. 4-5) for anairline flight, the computer data from the SCRS is downloaded by theticketing agent at the airline counter in the airport or by a travelagent or ticket reseller (Travelocity.com) and portions of the availabledownloaded information are recorded onto a magnetic stripe on thebackside of the boarding document (FIG. 5). This information is thencarried by the passenger to the gate area where the information recordedon the boarding document is confirmed by reading the recordedinformation and comparing it to the data associated with the boardingdocument in the central computer system of the airline or on a localarea network.

The information is recorded onto a magnetic stripe on the back of theboarding document as heretofore only magnetic stripes were able to holdthe amount of data needed to be contained on the boarding documents inan inexpensive and portable manner which also permitted, within the airterminal, recording and re-recording and reading of the information.Magnetic stripe recording is similar to audio and video recording. Inmagnetic stripe recording the magnetic material is applied to a paper orplastic card or ticket. The data is stored on the stripe instead of ontape. The stripes can be recorded, read, and re-recorded multiple times.The black or brown magnetic stripe is made up of magnetic particles ofresin. Brown stripes are generally low-coercivity (LoCo), while blackstripes are high-coercivity cards (HiCo). Coercivity is the ability ofthe magnetic stripe to resist demagnetization. The resin particlematerial used determines the coercivity of the stripe: low-coercivitystripes of 300 Oe (oersteds) are made of iron oxide and high-coercivitystripes of 2750 to 4000 Oe are usually made from barium ferrite. Thehigher the coercivity, the harder it is to encode—and erase—informationfrom the stripe.

The data on magnetic stripes is recorded in “tracks” much like audiosound tracks. A single magnetic stripe has multiple tracks on it thatare available for recording. There are four track locations on astandard credit or ATM card. In other magnetic stripe uses, such asairline tickets and/or boarding passes the track locations and dataformat do not necessarily follow the standards set out for financialcards. The four magnetic tracks have been assigned names and numbers aslisted below:

“Track 1” as used by the International Air Transportation Association(IATA), contains alphanumeric information for airline ticketing or othertransactions where a reservation database is accessed.

“Track 2” was developed by the American Bankers Association (ABA)contains numeric information for the automation of financialtransactions. Track 2 is also used by most systems that require anidentification number and a minimum of other control information.

“Track 3” typically contains information which is intended to be updatedduring each transaction. For example for a private gift card thatoperates “off-line” from a central computer, the cash register mightread the contents of this track to determine the amount of value on thecard. At the conclusion of a transaction this track of the card would beupdated with the new value of the card reflecting the old card valueminus the amount of the concluded transaction.

“Track 4” is reserved.

A magnetic stripe is encoded with bit patterns, which correspond toalphanumeric (Track 1) or numeric (Tracks 2 & 3) ASCII characters. Thenumber of bits on a given track is limited to a certain number of bitsper inch, or BPI. There are also a series of all zero bits encoded atthe beginning and end of a magnetic stripe. These all zero bits areknown as “clocking bits” and establish timing for the code readingdevice.

The magnetic striped cards used for airline boarding documents present anumber of deficiencies to the cost conscious airline industry. Eachmagnetic card blank cost the airline between seven and eleven cents($0.07-$0.11) each to purchase. New magnetic stripe boarding pass cardshave a failure rate of approximately five to seven percent (5-7%) on thefirst attempt. This failure rate is incurred while attempting to readand confirm the pre-recorded serial number, or stock control number,(FIG. 4) that is applied to each card before any writing is attempted onthe card. A second failure rate of approximately five to seven percent(5-7%) on the first attempt is presented by magnetic stripe boardingpass cards upon attempting to read the recorded information after therecording process at the airline check-in counter. Thus an averageoverall failure rate of approximately fourteen percent (10-14%) ispresented in the day to day use of magnetic stripe boarding pass cards.For an airline using 2 million such documents this represents a loss of$28,000 in unusable card stock. In contrast, a ticket or boardingdocument blank that does not contain a magnetic stripe costsapproximately three-thousandths of a cent each ($0.003) to purchase andavoids the failure rate associated with a magnetic stripe.

Further, the use of magnetic stripe cards for recording ticket andboarding document information requires that air carriers use thousandsof magnetic stripe printers and readers which are very expensive devicesto purchase and to keep in repair. For example, a typical magneticstripe recorder and text printer device costs approximately $4,000 permachine. The corresponding magnetic stripe reader device used at ajetway or boarding gate costs approximately $6,000. Since each airlinemust purchase its own devices for each airport ticket counter and gate,tens of thousands of these devices must be purchased by airlines andreplacement devices must be kept on hand to replace defective devices.For an airline operating in only 15 airports and having 10 ticketinglocations in each airport using writer devices and 15 aircraft gates ineach airport using reader devices, the basic cost of using magneticstripe card reader/writer equipment would be approximately $1,950,000 inequipment purchase costs. This cost does not include the cost of themagnetic card stock having a fourteen percent (14%) waste component orthe costs of stocking replacement units at each airport.

In contrast, a typical reader/writer unit for printing and readingmulti-dimensional bar codes costs approximately $1,000 and the scannerdevice used at the boarding gate costs between $300 and $400 dollars.Thus, the equipment cost for the airline operating at 15 airports andhaving 10 ticketing locations in each airport using writer devices and15 aircraft gates in each airport using reader devices, would beapproximately $240,000 when avoiding the use of magnetic stripe cards. Asavings of $1,710,000 in equipment.

The information recorded onto magnetic stripe boarding pass cards isdata about the passenger, the passenger's flight itinerary; passengercontact information, security information, number of bags checked on theflight, and other information. Some of this data is used by the aircarrier to document passenger preferences and other information is usedto identify and verify the passenger at the time of flight boarding.

Every airline reservation for a passenger, or group of passengers, isassociated with a booking code under which the reservation is stored ina central booking computer. This booking code is known as the PassengerName Record (PNR). It is defined by means of a combination of five orsix letters and numbers. In the PNR, additional information on thetraveler or special service requests can also be included. Since one PNRis created for each travel plan, passenger name records and passengersdo not necessarily match up one to one: a group traveling together mayhave one record with only travel agency information in it.

Each PNR has five mandatory fields: number of passengers and theirnames; contact phone number; ticketing information; ticket orderreceived-from data; and itinerary. Each part that contains data aboutthe passenger is referred to as a field. The passenger data fields thusinclude a Name field, Phone field, Ticketing field, and Received-fromfield. Each field has an identifier, or function code, which is used toenter data into that field. For example, the identifier for the Namefield is the hyphen. This field identifier tells the computer systemwhat field to use for storing the data.

Name Field

The Name field contains one or more name items. Passenger names aregrouped together by last name. All passengers who share a last name arelisted in a collective name item. A PNR may contain one or more nameitems—for example, parties with different surnames. For internationaltravel, the passenger's complete name should be entered in the PNR, asdocumented on the traveler's passport.

Phone Field

Each PNR must include at least one contact phone number for one memberof the traveling party. In addition, the travel agency phone number iscustomarily entered first, with passenger contact phone numbers listedin the following order: business, home, hotel, if available andapplicable. Multiple numbers can be entered for each passenger, but eachphone listing must be identified as Agency, Business, Home, or Hotel.

Ticketing Field

Information entered in the Ticketing field depends on the ticketingarrangements requested by the passenger. For example, if the ticketswill be printed on a future date, the intended ticketing date isentered. On that date the PNR will appear automatically in an electronicholding area called the ticketing queue. By looking in the queue, theagent can determine which reservations are scheduled to be ticketed onthat day. If a prepaid ticket advisory (PTA) is sent to the airline, thePTA date is entered. Information in the Ticketing field is identified bya function code, and only one entry is allowed in the Ticketing field.This limitation is known as a single-field entry. The ticketing fieldcan also be used to record a time limit in conjunction with a passengerreservation, for example, a client might wish that tickets be issued atthe airport prior to departure. The recent advent of electronicticketing or e-tickets has eliminated some of the complicationspreviously associated with providing the passenger with ticketdocuments.

Received From Field

A received-from entry is used to record the party who placed the airreservation, be it the passenger, parent, secretary, etc.

Itinerary Field

The itinerary consists of one or more air segments. Each segmentrepresents a confirmed, requested or wait-listed reservation on adesignated flight.

When a travel agent makes a reservation, they enter data on a computerreservations systems/global distribution systems (CRS/GDS) terminal, andcreate a PNR in that CRS/GDS. If the airline is hosted in a differentCRS/GDS, information about the flight(s) on that airline is sent to theairline's host system, and a PNR is created in the airline's partitionin that system as well. What information is sent between airlines, andhow, is specified in the Airline Interline Message Procedures (AIRIMP)manual, although many airlines and CRS's/GDS's have their own directconnections and exceptions to the AIRIMP standards.

If, for example, a reservation is made on United Airlines (whichoutsources the hosting of its reservations database to the GalileoCRS/GDS) through the Internet travel agency Travelocity.com (which is adivision of Sabre, and uses the Sabre CRS/GDS), Travelocity.com createsa PNR in Sabre. Sabre sends a message derived from portions of the SabrePNR data to Galileo, using the AIRIMP (or another bilaterally-agreedformat). Galileo in turn uses the data in the AIRIMP message to create aPNR in United's Galileo “partition.”

If a set of reservations includes flights on multiple airlines, eachairline is sent the information pertaining to its flights. Ifinformation is added later by one of those airlines, it may or may notbe transmitted back to the CRS/GDS in which the original reservation wasmade, and almost never will be sent to other airlines participating inthe itinerary that are hosted in different CRS's/GDS's. So there can bemany different PNR's, in different CRS's/GDS's, for the same set ofreservations, none of them containing all the data included in all ofthe others.

When a ticket is issued, that is recorded in the PNR; if it is ane-ticket, the actual “ticket”, as defined by the airline, is theelectronic ticket record in the PNR. When you check-in, the claim checknumbers and the weights of your bags are added to the PNR. If you don'tshow up for a flight on which you are booked, that fact is logged in thePNR. Whenever anything in the reservation is added, changed, orcanceled, that information may be communicated back to the CRS/GDS thatholds the original PNR. If you call the airline or visit its Web site,and request seat assignments, that is entered in the PNR. If your travelagency or the airline uses Sabre, and you look up your airlinereservation on Sabre's “VirtuallyThere.com” Web site, and add a carreservation through VirtuallyThere.com, that goes in the same Sabre PNR.

As now can be appreciated a substantial amount of information isavailable about a passenger and passenger travels via the PRN. Further,it should be appreciated that it is necessary that this information beavailable in a form—a data stream—that can be received by an air carrierticketing agent for recording onto a magnetic stripe. The recording ofthis information onto a magnetic stripe is required of all airlinetickets, but is often ignored on U.S. domestic flights. Instead, fordomestic flights, information about the flight and passenger is printedon the boarding document using bar codes printed on the front of theticket using information generated by the airline about its own domesticflight and not using a downloaded PNR magnetic data stream.

However, if a U.S. airline is to issue boarding documents that will beaccepted on international flights it is a necessity that the PNR data berecorded onto a magnetic stripe on the back of boarding documents or theboarding documents will be rejected upon their use on an internationalflight. This PNR data must be recorded in the order and positiondictated in the Airline Interline Message Procedures (AIRIMP) manual.

Therefore, while it has been possible for an airline offering onlydomestic flights to ignore the international and FAA requirements foruse of magnetically recorded PNR information on domestic boardingdocuments this is not possible for airlines that issue boardingdocuments for both domestic and international flights. These aircarriers are required to receive PNR data and record the required PNRdata on a magnetic stripe on ticket and boarding documents to permit theticket and boarding documents they issue to be accepted during theinternational leg of their flight schedules or the flight schedules ofinternational airlines for whom they are issuing documents.

Therefore, in view of this requirement airlines that issue internationalflight documents must use the central computer PNR data streams andmagnetic stripe cards for all their flight documents and incur thesubstantial cost presented by magnetic stripe cards for all theirflights or find a means to avoid, at least partially, the costs ofmagnetic stripe cards while continuing to use the PNR data stream andoffer magnetic stripe cards as needed for international flights.

One barrier to a solution to this extra cost is the amount ofinformation that is required to be provided on an airline boardingdocument or ticket. This quantity of information is far in excess ofthat which can be contained in a conventional bar code that is commonlyused to present the universal product code (UPC) on products. A partialsolution to this problem is found in the use of multi-dimensional barcodes (FIG. 6).

Two-dimensional symbology or bar codes were introduced in late 1980'swith Code 49. Since then many other multi-dimensional “bar codes” or“codes” have been developed to meet the demand for storage of portableinformation in as little space as possible. Several terms are used forthis type of data storage such as “two-dimensional code” or “2-D code”or “two-dimensional symbology” or “2-D symbology.” These names refer tothe general class of bar codes or symbols that use more than onephysical dimension to store or present or contain information.

One-dimensional bar codes, seen on current packaging, are made up of aseries of one-dimensional bars or lines with spaces between. The seriesof bars and spaces having a varying width present the coded data. A“one-dimensional bar code” is “vertically redundant.” The height of theline or “bar” is merely a repetition of the same information that ispresented by the width of the line or “bar.” The bar height can belengthened or reduced without information being lost. The verticalredundancy permits the presence of printing defects such as ink blob orprinting gap while still allowing the bar code to be read. As the heightincreases the probability increases that the bar code will be readable.

2-dimensional symbologies or codes can contain far more informationwithin the same space as can one-dimensional bar codes. This presents anadvantage when only a small amount of space is available for informationstorage. Some examples of the multi-dimensional symbologies that arecurrently available are:

Matrix Code

“Matrix Code” (Table 2) stores data based on the position of black spotswithin a matrix. Each black spot or element is the same dimension. Theposition of the element serves to code the data.

3D Barcode

3D bar code is simply a one dimensional bar code that is embossed on asurface. The code is read by using differences in line depth, ratherthan contrast, to distinguish between bars and spaces. The code can beused where printed labels will not adhere and can be painted or coatedand still read. 3-DI 3-DI (Table 2) uses small circular symbols.

ArrayTag

ArrayTag (Table 2) code is made up of hexagonal symbols and a patentedborder. ArrayTags are capable of encoding hundreds of characters and canbe read at distances of more than 50 yards.

Aztec Code

The Aztec Code (Table 2) symbols are on a square grid with a squarecentral bullseye. The smallest Aztec Code format encodes 13 numeric or12 alphabetic characters, the largest format encodes 3832 numeric or3067 alphabetic characters.

Code 49

Code 49 uses a series of one dimensional bar codes stacked one on top ofanother. Each bar code can have between two and eight rows. Every rowcontains the data in exactly 18 bars and 17 spaces, and each row isseparated by a one-module high separator bar.

CP Code

CP Code is made up of square matrix symbols with an L-shaped finder.

Data Matrix

Data Matrix is a 2-D matrix code that can store between one and 500characters. The symbol is scalable between a 1-mil square to a 14-inchsquare. Data Matrix symbol has a maximum theoretical density of 500million characters to the inch. Each symbol has two adjacent sidesprinted as solid bars, while the remaining adjacent sides are printed asa series of equally spaced square dots. These patterns are used toindicate both orientation and printing density of the symbol.

MaxiCode

Maxicode was developed by United Parcel Service and is made up of a1-inch by 1-inch array of 866 interlocking hexagons. Approximately 100ASCII characters can be held in the 1-inch square symbol. The symbol canstill be read even when up to 25 percent of the symbol has beendestroyed.

PDF 417

PDF417 is a stacked symbology and was invented by Ynjiun Wang in 1991 atSymbol Technologies. PDF stands for Portable Data File, and thesymbology consists of 17 modules each containing 4 bars and spaces (thusthe number “417”). The code is in the public domain. The structure ofthe code allows for between 1000 to 2000 characters per symbol with aninformation density of between 100 and 340 characters. Each symbol has astart and stop bar group that extends the height of the symbol. A PDF417symbol can be read with modified handheld laser or CCD scanners. Highdensity printers (thermal transfer or laser) should be used to print thesymbol.

While multi-dimensional bar codes can provide a means for presenting thehigh quantity of information that was formerly presented on the magneticstripe it presently is necessary that air carriers continue to use theavailable PNR data stream for receiving PNR data and, where required,for recording onto magnetic stripe cards for any international flightsthey issue.

Therefore, it would be a substantial benefit to air carriers if a meanswere available which would allow the air carrier to use the PNR magneticdata stream for international flight documents having magnetic stripesthereon while providing the ability to select and sort the informationpresented in the PNR data stream for conversion into a multi-dimensionalsymbology that could be printed onto domestic flight documents andpermit the airline to avoid the cost of magnetic stripe cards wherepossible.

It further would be a substantial benefit to air carriers if a meanswere available which would allow the air carrier to use the PNR magneticdata stream for international flight documents having magnetic stripesthereon while providing the ability to select and sort the informationpresented in the PNR data stream for conversion into a multi-dimensionalsymbology that could be printed onto domestic air flight documentsthereby avoiding the substantial cost of the reader and writer devicesthat currently are used to read and write magnetic stripe cards inairports.

It further would be a substantial benefit to air carriers if a meanswere available which would allow air carriers to eliminate the use ofticket and boarding documents having magnetic data recording stripeswhile preserving the use of the computer software systems associatedwith the use of the PNR magnetic data stream thereby producing a costsavings for the airline industry by eliminating, altogether, the readingand writing equipment associated with the use of magnetic stripe cardsas well as eliminating the use of magnetic stripe cards while allowingfor the inclusion of additional passenger information such as digitalphotographic data of the passenger and baggage identities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A device and method are provided for receiving a stream of dataappropriate for recording onto the magnetic stripe of airline flightdocuments from a shared computer reservation system, identifying datawithin the data stream which is desirable for presenting on an airlinedocument, converting the magnetic stripe data stream code into amulti-dimensional symbology and printing the multi-dimensional symbologyonto an airline flight document. The method further includes thescanning of the printed multi-dimensional symbology on an airline flightdocument into a computer memory or memory buffer for transformation ofthe multi-dimensional symbology image onto a human readable data formatand a format readable by the particular user airline system (hostformat).

The foregoing and other objects are intended to be illustrative of theinvention and are not meant in a limiting sense. Many possibleembodiments of the invention may be made and will be readily evidentupon a study of the following specification and accompanying drawingscomprising a part thereof. Various features and subcombinations ofinvention may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. Other objects and advantages of this invention willbecome apparent from the following description taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustrationand example, an embodiment of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention, illustrative of the best modesin which the applicant has contemplated applying the principles, are setforth in the following description and are shown in the drawings and areparticularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appendedclaims.

FIG. 1 shows the front face of a typical airline ticket/boardingnon-magnetic stripe document having barcode data printed thereon, butwhich code is not generated from magnetic data stream code, but which isshowing bar code information which is entered by the particular airlineticket agent onto the ticket at the customer check-in counter by use ofan ASCII data stream code;

FIG. 2 shows the front face of a typical airline ticket/boardingnon-magnetic stripe document capable of having barcode data printedthereon, but which code is not generated from magnetic data stream code,but which is showing bar code information which is entered by theparticular airline ticket agent onto the ticket at the customer check-incounter by use of an ASCII data stream code;

FIG. 3 shows the rear face of the airline ticket/boarding non-magneticstripe document of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows the front face of a typical airline ticket/boardingmagnetic stripe document; and

FIG. 5 shows the rear face of a typical airline ticket/boarding magneticstripe document and showing the magnetic stripe thereon.

FIG. 6 shows various examples of multi-dimensional symbology or barcodeswhich are presently in use.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As required, detailed embodiments of the present inventions aredisclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosedembodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodiedin various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as abasis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching oneskilled in the art to variously employ the present invention invirtually any appropriately detailed structure.

When an airline passenger makes a flight reservation, information aboutthat passenger is entered into a central flight reservation computersystem. The information is then available to a number of differentairlines and available to travel booking agencies and/or hotels and/orcar rental agencies. This information is commonly known as the PNR orPNR data or PNR information.

The information initially entered into the passenger reservationcomputer system includes the passenger name, address, phone number andif the passenger is a member of an airline “frequent flyer” program. Thecentral computer information also will include passenger preferencessuch as aisle or window seating, type of meal request, etc. Additionalinformation that will be contained in the central computer file relatingto that particular passenger and the particular flight for thatparticular passenger will be the value of the ticket, boardinginformation such as seat, date of flight and flight number, the numberof bags checked which would be added to the information upon check-infor the flight, the class of service such as first class or coach, thevalue of each leg of the flight, and the passenger name record number(PNR). In addition to this information, the bag number or bag sequencenumber for checked baggage can be included or the fact that no baggagewas checked. With the advent of increased security considerations onairlines, additional information may be added to the passenger fileregarding security issues. This information can include an indicationthat any carry-on bags should be hand checked, an indication to handcheck checked luggage, a notation to deny boarding to the passenger, oran indication to isolate the passenger in a secured area, as well as,additional and/or new security issues which relate to passengers andwhich will arise from time to time. It is an important aspect of thisinformation that it not be in human readable form so that the cautionarynotes regarding a passenger may travel with the passenger's ticket whichis in the passenger's possession but not provide notice to the passengerthat a particular security issue has been applied to them.

To accomplish this, heretofore, the PNR information has been stored onthe ticket by recording it in magnetic recordable form onto a magneticstripe that has been applied to the ticket. In addition to the magneticstripe information, a certain portion of the PNR information which isdesired to be human readable is printed on the front of the ticket. Thisneed for dual formatting of information on tickets has been achieved bythe formatting of some PNR information so that it may be recorded ontothe magnetic stripe and the formatting of some information within thedatabase so that it may be printed onto the front of the ticket. Theformatting used, generally, has been to provide the information in twodifferent manners, that is to provide the human readable informationidentified as a “print” or printable ASCII data stream and to presentthe majority of the PNR information in the form of a magneticallyrecordable or magnetic data stream. The printable ASCII data stream isaccepted commonly by printers and used to represent the data directlyinto human readable alpha numeric representations. In this case, theprint ASCII data stream is used to contain the information which isprinted in human readable fashion on the front of the airline ticket andwhich is generally limited to passenger name, seat number, date offlight and flight number.

The print ASCII data stream information may or may not be duplicatedwithin the magnetic information data stream which is offered by thecentral computer. The additional information previously described, inaddition to passenger name, seat number, date of flight and flightnumber and which is contained in a magnetically recordable data streamis a separately provided data stream and distinct from the humanreadable data which is in the printable ASCII data.

This division of information between the human readable data stream andthe magnetically recordable data stream has presented some airlines withthe method of operation of simply excluding the use of the magnetic datastream and airline documents containing a magnetic stripe and using onlythe printable ASCII data stream to provide only human readable datapresentation on the front of the ticket. This is done to save costs andalso can be accomplished where the airline deals only with, or mainlywith, passengers engaging in domestic flights in the United States andnot passengers who will, during a course of their flights during aparticular sequence of flying, encounter any international gates. Theadvantages to using only the printable ASCII data to present humanreadable data on airline ticketing and boarding documents was set forthpreviously in the cost analysis of magnetic stripe equipped documentsand the relatively high rejection rate (ten percent to fourteen percent)during the use of such magnetic stripe documents.

The present inventive device and method permit airlines which mustinclude the contents of the magnetically recordable data stream on anairline ticket, either to conform with international flight requirementsor with FAA requirements, to do so while avoiding the cost of magneticstripe equipped documents. This method is accomplished, generally, byreceiving at the airline document printer the magnetically recordabledata stream or data elements from the central computer, excluding thedata stream portion presented in printable ASCII format and convertingat the printer the remaining magnetic data stream contents into atwo-dimensional symbology or two-dimensional bar code format which isthen printed onto the airline ticket or boarding documents through theuse of bar code printers and reading of the information with bar codescanners. Such printers and readers and scanners of bar codes are farless expensive than the magnetic data readers and writers conventionallyused with magnetic stripe data recording airline ticket and boardingdocuments.

It should be appreciated that the use of two-dimensional bar codes forprinting onto airline ticketing and baggage documents is not in and ofitself new. At least two airlines, Alaska Airlines and SouthwestAirlines, have recently started use two-dimensional bar codes forrepresentation of the human readable information printed on the front ofan airline boarding pass. However the data streams used in these casesdoes not involve any of the magnetically recordable data instructionsinvolved in the recording of magnetic data.

For example, in the current utilization of an airline boarding or ticketdocument that contains magnetic recording media the sequence ofoperations is as follows. In recording data onto a magnetic stripedocument, the host computer sends the message which directs the magneticrecording device to check the magnetic stripe on the back of thedocument. The first part of the host computer message alerts therecoding device to prepare the document to receive a magneticallyrecordable data stream. The host computer then provides a magneticallyrecordable data stream that contains formatting codes directing therecording device to the location on the magnetic stripe at which theindividual data elements of the magnetic data stream are to be recorded.The host message then provides the magnetic data stream and thedirection to record the data on the magnetic stripe. After the data ismagnetically recorded, the host message the directs the recording deviceto check the recorded magnetic stripe. If the stripe reads accuratelythe host computer then switches to sending data that is to be printedonto the document along with print formatting codes and directions toprint the data. However, if the magnetic stripe on the document cannotbe read properly that magnetic stripe document is rejected, and isvoided, and then the process begins again with a new magnetic stripedocument on which the recording device attempts to record themagnetically recordable data stream.

In the case of Southwest Airlines a data stream that is coded only forprinting and that is not coded for magnetic recording is sent from theSouthwest host computer database to the local computer being used by theticketing agent. The ticket agent's local computer then receives theprintable data and converts some or all of the print coded informationinto a 2D barcode print message and sends the print message to a printerthat simply prints the information as instructed. In this instance theprinter is a “dumb printer” and cannot self select the information to beprinted on the ticket or select information to be converted into a 2Dbarcode nor does the printer have the capability to convert theinformation into a 2D barcode or other 2D symbology.

In the case of Alaska Airlines, the ticket agent receives a data streamcoded for human-readable printing and a stream of data coded forrecording onto magnetic media. Alaska Airlines discards the stream ofdata coded for recording onto magnetic media and only uses the a datastream coded for human-readable printing. All of the Alaska data streamcoded for human-readable printing is then sent to a printer whichconverts portions of that printable data stream, as received, directlyinto a 2D barcode and a prints the 2D barcode onto a boarding pass.

In neither case is a “smart printer” involved which receives a stream ofdata coded for both printing on a ticket and recording onto magneticmedia, and selects the stream of magnetic data, and redirects themagnetically recordable data stream through a conversion operation inwhich the stream of data coded for recording onto magnetic media and theassociated formatting codes are converted into 2D symbology and thenprinted by the printer onto a specified location on the airline documentwhich is different from the magnetic stripe location.

In the case of Southwest Airlines and Alaska airlines the informationreceived at the printer is simply a two-dimensional bar code printmessage developed from the printable information contained in the datastream from the central computer. These operations do not include or usedata that is to be magnetically recorded onto the ticket and whichmagnetically recordable data stream contains far more information thatdoes the printable data stream. Nor do these operations identify at theprinter, from the existing shared computer reservation systems (SCRS)data stream, the available magnetically recordable data and convert thatdata at the printer for printing as a two-dimensional symbology thatincludes the magnetic formatting codes which would allow forreconstruction of a magnetically recordable data stream from thetwo-dimensional printed symbol.

Therefore, heretofore, a method of accessing and converting the full andcomplete magnetic data stream information, as required, at least, forinternational flights, has not been available and has not been used forconversion of magnetic data stream code into a format which permitsairlines to avoid the use of magnetic data stripe cards. As it will beappreciated that the Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines examplesprovided herein do not use magnetic data stripe cards or the magneticdata stream code. Their operations use only the printable ASCII codestream and do so by the exclusion of or ignoring the magnetic stripedata stream code available from the central computer.

Best Mode of a Preferred Embodiment

Under the present invention, the airline ticketing agent or otherindividual wishing to retrieve magnetic data stream informationregarding a passenger and present that magnetic data stream informationwhile avoiding the use of magnetic stripe recording, calls up theinformation from an airline central computer shared system and initiatesthe downloading of the data stream related to the particular reservationor PNR. The data stream containing the magnetic stripe information fromthe computer reservation system or global distribution system isreceived at the particular airline ticketing terminal, whether thatterminal be at a travel agency or at an airline operated ticket counter,and the information is stored into a memory buffer in the printerprocessor. The magnetic code or magnetic data stream is then releasedfrom the buffer memory and any print ASCII format data is removed fromthe magnetic code data stream. The ASCII data may either be printed ontoa ticket or document in human readable form or stored for later use ordeleted.

The magnetic code or data stream is then operated on by the printerprocessor to compare the data stream against itself for redundantoccurrences of the same data and to eliminate the duplicate occurrencesof the data. At this point, it will be appreciated that the magneticdata stream, without redundant data entries, consists of, generally, anelement identifier label; the element contents and a field separator inrepeated form such that the data stream would appear, for example, asfollows, but as binary data or other form that is recordable on magneticmedia: TABLE 1 07Smith#08Joan#09816-374-0583#112D#1402272004#15134.57#183# 195648#20F#2378.57#27DNB#30Secure-AFF##07Smith#08Joan# 09816-374-0583#112D#1402272004#15134.57#183# 195648#20F#2378.57#27DNB# 30Secure-AFF##

The information contained the Table 1 can be interpreted as follows:Element field identifier label Element contents separator 07 Smith (LastName) # 08 Joan (First Name) # 09 816-374-0583 # (Telephone No.)where each element identifier label is specific to a particular type ofdata, e.g., 07 identifies that he information following the label 07 isthe last name of the passenger.

Once the magnetic data stream has exited the memory buffer and has beenoperated on by the processor to reduce or eliminate redundantoccurrences of data, the newly formed non-redundant data is thencompressed using a standardly available data compression program such asPKZip or Winzip, and the compressed data is then converted into any oneof several available multi-dimensional symbologies or multi-dimensionalbar code formats, and the representation of the data which is now in theform of a printable bar code is transmitted to a printer head forprinting onto the airline ticket or boarding pass or other airlinedocument.

In an alternative embodiment, it may be desirable to add to the datastream parametric table (Pectab) data which is used to define the printand magnetic strip locations for each particular datum which iscontained within the magnetic code data stream. The Pectab data may beunique for each airline or may be specified by an airline group such asthe Association of European Airlines (AEA) in their joint technicalspecifications which are to be used in preparing documents.

In view of the variety of Pectabs that are available (each airline mayhave its own, and there may be a different Pectab for each type ofdocument being printed), a particular example of a Pectab incorporatedwithin the data for service subsequent compression and conversion into a2-D symbology will not be specifically set forth here. Rather, ageneralized format of a Pectab appear as follows:A1/26#07Smith#A27/36#08Joan# G1/12#09816-374-0583# D45/50#112D#C1/17#1402272004# G40/47#15134.57# F1/2183# 1927-5648#B47/51#20F#G40/482378.57# 27DnB#30Secure-Yes##

The information of Table 2, using the provided phantom Pectab couldallocate and present the data stream of Table 2 on a boarding documentin the following positions: TABLE 3           1         2         3         4         5  12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456A Smith                     JoanB                                               1^(ST) ClassC Feb. 27, 2004D DNB                                             Seat 2DE Secure                                 Flight No. 5648F 3 Bags Checked                            134.57 G816-374-0583                             2378.57

A1/26#07Smith# Last Name Smith A27/36#08Joan# First Name JoanG1/12#09816-374-0583# Telephone No. 816-374-0583 D45/50#112D# Seat 2DC1/17#1402272004# Flight Date Feb. 27, 2004 G40/47#15134.57# Leg cost$134.57 F1/2#183# Bags checked 3 E45/51#195648# Flight No. 5648B47/51#20F# First Class G40/482378.57# Total ticket cost $2,378.57D1/3#27DNB# Do not allow to Board E1/6#30Secure-Yes## Hold passenger ina secure area

The resulting data stream of Table 1 or Table 2 would be converted intoa multi-dimensional symbology or bar code the could have one of thefollowing appearances:

Conversion of the Multi-Dimensional Symbology

When it is desired to retrieve the information printed in thetwo-dimensional symbology from the ticket, a scanning device is used toscan the multi-dimensional bar code. The various manufacturers oftwo-dimensional bar codes provide for scanner devices which can be usedto scan their particular bar code format and, thus, are well known inthe art and will not be further described within this specification. Thescanned data image is transmitted to a memory buffer in the scanningdevice, and the information is extracted from the buffer and compared byan image interpreter and converter software which permits theinterpretation of the particular multi-dimensional symbology or bar codeand conversion of the bar code image into binary or ASCII code datastream from which the data may then be converted into human readableformat for display on a CRT or LCD display or other human readabledisplay or for printing of the information onto a paper document. Aswill be appreciated from the previous description, the multi-dimensionalbar code may or may not include Pectab data. In the situation in whichPectab data is included within the multi-dimensional code, the computerreading the scanned image can detect the Pectab information and transmitthe data to the CRT or LCD display or format the data for the printerbased upon the Pectab contained within the multi-dimensional symbology.Alternatively, if no Pectab data is included within themulti-dimensional symbology, the reading device or computer will accessa Pectab which is indicated for use by the operator and will associatevarious data stream components with the downloaded Pectab to allowformatting and positioning of data extracted from the multi-dimensionalbar code into the proper positions for use.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the abilityprovided by the present invention to encode substantially moreinformation onto an airline ticket or boarding document will permit theaddition of other security information onto the ticket in the form ofthe multi-dimensional symbology. One such example is the use of digitalphotographs of the passenger and/or passenger luggage and/or passengercarry-ons which can then be converted into multi-dimensional symbologyor bar codes and printed onto the ticket. Then upon final boarding, thephotographic information can be scanned, and the photograph of theindividual encoded onto the ticket can be compared with the individualpresenting the ticket. It will be appreciated that as the photographsare taken within a few moments or few days of being reexamined forsecurity purposes, that the photographs will quite closely andaccurately reflect the appearance of the individual and will not sufferfrom changes in appearance which can occur over longer periods of timeas are found on, for example, passport photographs which may be five orten years old at the time they are compared with the individual.Further, it will be appreciated that the opportunity to take such aphotograph at the time that a potential passenger confirms theiridentity, either through the use of a passport or a driver's license orother identity documents, time will be allowed for scrutiny of theindividual's background as the ticket is obtained several days inadvance of the airline flight, and with the photograph then beingdownloaded and encoded onto the ultimately issued boarding document itwill serve as a means of verification that the individual who purchasedor obtained the original reservation is in fact, the individualpresenting the boarding document just prior to their entry onto theaircraft. In this manner, an individual who is a security risk would notbe able to employ the use of another individual to initially make theairline reservation to thereby avoid being recognized as a security riskfor the flight.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity,clearness and understanding; but no unnecessary limitations are to beimplied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because suchterms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadlyconstrued. Moreover, the description and illustration of the inventionsis by way of example, and the scope of the inventions is not limited tothe exact details shown or described.

Certain changes may be made in embodying the above invention, and in theconstruction thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. It is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative and not meant in a limiting sense.

Having now described the features, discoveries and principles of theinvention, the manner in which the inventive method for providing andprinting multi-dimension symbology or multi-dimensional bar codes of themagnetic data stream onto airline documents are performed, constructedand used, the characteristics of the construction, and advantageous, newand useful results obtained; the new and useful structures, devices,elements, arrangements, parts and combinations, are set forth in theappended claims.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

1. A method of receiving a data stream for recording onto magnetic mediafrom a central reservation computer offering passenger air travelinformation to multiple airlines and for selecting and converting saiddata stream into multi-dimensional symbology for printing onto airlinedocuments comprising the steps of: receiving from a shared centralreservation computer a data stream containing data for recording onto amagnetic media, selecting from said data stream at least a portion ofsaid data for recording onto said magnetic media to provide a selecteddata stream, converting said selected data stream into amulti-dimensional symbology data set, and printing saidmulti-dimensional symbology data set onto an airline document.
 2. Themethod as claimed in claim 1 wherein said printing of saidmulti-dimensional symbology data is at a second location on said airlinedocument that is different from a first location identified in said datastream from said shared central reservation computer. 3-8. (canceled) 9.A printer for receiving a data stream containing print data andmagnetically recordable data said data stream for printing and recordingonto airline tickets and boarding documents the printer comprising: aprint head for printing alpha-numeric text, a print head for printingmulti-dimensional symbology, and a processor to select a magneticallyrecordable datum from the data stream and to convert said magneticallyrecordable datum into a multi-dimensional symbology computer code and todirect said print head for printing multi-dimensional symbology to printsaid multi-dimensional symbology computer code onto an airline document.10. The printer as claimed in claim 9 wherein a single print headcontains said print head for printing alpha-numeric text and said printhead for printing multiple dimensional symbology.
 11. The printer asclaimed in claim 9 wherein said processor compresses said magneticallyrecordable datum prior to converting said magnetically recordable datuminto a multi-dimensional symbology computer code.